Game 5 aftermath: On wearing down the Avs, McGinn’s physical play — and orange T-shirts

Late afternoon flight to Denver for Game 6, so had time to run over to the practice this morning.

Dan Boyle said after the first game of the series that the Sharks needed to take advantage of their size and play more physically, that maybe that wouldn’t matter in Games 2 and 3, but as the series went on to a Game 5 or 6 or 7, all that hitting would take a toll on Colorado.

Mark Emmons will explore that topic in the print edition tomorrow, but he was getting buy-in to that notion from several players in looking to explain the wide difference in play last night as the Sharks rolled to a 5-0 victory.

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Focused on physical play, I talked with Jamie McGinn about his run-ins with Cody McLeod and Scott Hannan last night.

McGinn can play with an edge and racked up 113 minutes in penalties one season with the Ottawa 67s. In the second period, right after McLeod cross-checked (uncalled) Douglas Murray into Evgeni Nabokov, it was McGinn who got to McLeod.

“I’ve got to do my job, whatever it takes to win and if it happens to be him (McLeod), that’s just the way it goes,” McGinn said today. “I’m not saying I’m as tough as him, that’s for sure, because he’s known around the league for throwing it around. But I’m not going to back down protecting my teammates.”

McGinn moved on in the scrum and ended up getting in Matt Duchene’s face. That’s when Hannan got involved.

“He didn’t like the fact I went after one of his star players ,” McGinn said. “He was just protecting his teammates and I respect him for that, for sure.”

Hannan drew four minutes for roughing, McGinn two. Then in the third period, McGinn was on the receiving end of a major charging penalty by McLeod. During that power play, the Sharks scored their fifth goal.

****Looking ahead to Game 6, the overall mood was, “We know they’re going to play their best game of the series and we better bring ours, too.”

Added Todd McLellan: “We talked about overcoming and competing with adversity before the series started. We got ourselves through it, but we have to put the finishing touch on it. The challenge for the team now is, allright, you’ve scratched and clawed and worked all the way back to take the lead, now what are you going to do with it?”

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****For those brave or foolish enough to look down the road and wonder when the second round might start if the Sharks get past Colorado, well, it won’t be Friday the 30th or Saturday the 1st of May.

That’s because the Eagles will be at HP Pavilion for back-to-back concerts. Thursday-Sunday? Sunday-Monday? Ah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Unfortunate scheduling, I suppose, but I’ll let you decide if that says anything about the arena management’s confidence level as far as the Sharks advancing to the second round.

****Finally, I’ve got to admit when I saw those orange T-shirts being handed out last night I thought I was at a Tennessee Volunteers football game. What? They ran out of teal dye? And, yes, I know, there are flashes of orange in the jersey and socks.

Players gave the promotion mixed reviews.

Scott Nichol — who played in Nashville and therefore knows his orange — gave the marketing department a thumbs up with the “Get Loud” message on the blatantly colorful T-shirt. Devin Setoguchi only wished more people were wearing theirs — sea of orange, sea of teal, it didn’t matter as long as the place was uniform.

But others, like Joe Thornton and Evgeni Nabokov, seemed uncertain about that color choice.

“I like it – but I just don’t understand why it’s not teal,” Nabokov said, before quickly adding: “It’s not my decision.”

Black T-shirts, Nabokov acknowledged, aren’t popular with goalies for the obvious reason as they make the puck harder to see. But teal or white or orange? All fine.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

I was at the game last night and I got a nice nightshirt for my wife!! That thing will never see daylight!!
I believe that everyone there felt a release and it bled over after in the streets. We`ve been waiting for our boys to dominate a game and now it`s fun again!!!
By the way, can anyone explain to me why anyone here is speculating who will or won`t be here next season?? It`s playoff time. Prognosticate after the season.

Beerslayer

Let me get this straight:

1. A team sponsor (Barracuda) prints out free orange t-shirts and gives them out at the game.
2. Lots of people wear their orange shirts, and most of the rest of us waved them enthusiastically like pompoms.
3. The Sharks win, 5-0.
4. People are actually complaining about the t-shirt giveaway?!?

Personally, I hope they give out orange t-shirts to EVERY remaining home game this postseason.

Beerslayer

By the way, does anyone know why the arena stopped opening up the seats and showing the game on the Jumbotron? I know they may have other events scheduled for some nights, but it seems like quite a while since they’ve done this at all.

Beerslayer

By the way, does anyone know why the arena stopped opening up the seats and showing the away games on the Jumbotron? I know they may have other events scheduled for some nights, but it seems like quite a while since they’ve done this at all.

Beerslayer

Sorry about the double (now triple?) post. I thought I stopped the first one in time, but I guess not.

K. Smith

Well, apparently Sharks ownership thought less about their own team changes and booked the Eagles. Good business decision, you can’t have an empty arena and if your product is going to tank, sorry about the pun, you should try to recoup some of the lost of funds.

Snow Shovel

PlayingD – If things start looking good tonight, I’ll be tempted to start counting my chickens!! In that case, our next series would be against which of the other series that are battling now?? We are the 1-8 seed series. Would we play the winner of the 4-5 seed series?

DuxSux

SS – Go down this list top to bottom and find the first one who wins their series, that’s who we would face in round 2. It’s reseeded after every round based on the 1-8 season finish.

7-Nashville
6-LA Kings
5-Detroit
4-Phoenix

Snow Shovel

DuxSux – Thanks! And it’s easy to understand the way you have presented it. Simpler is usually better for me.

I am so looking forward to tonight’s game! It should be a really intense affair, but if the Sharks bring their game like they did for the last two games, they should be victorious. Nabby looks really sharp and the Sharks look hungry!

Go Sharks Go!!!!!

skrahssharks

I wonder where those “brave” Avs fans are now. Not one post from them mouthing off on how we were the circus of the NHL after the Game 3 bad luck.

Well keep licking your wounds and hide away, you are gonna have to do that till the next playoffs.

Gooooooooooooooooo Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaarks!

dbay

Clanbird – (?)- Wallin has only played one game this series. I’ll take him back on the team when he gets healthy. You make a blanket statement that can’t be backed up by stats.

DBAY

hockeyplayer

Snow Shovel,

unfortunately, you will only be able to estimate your chickens with a win tonight. Being the optimistic guy that I am, my crystal egg says Sharks play Detroit in the 2nd round beginning next thursday 4/29.

hockeyplayer

K. Smith,

my suggestion, until you can write a complete sentence, with proper punctuation, you might want to stick to 800-callgrl.

icehawkey

JohhnySanJose
im poor and live in San Francisco and im a busy hockey goalie w/ kids so i can only make around 5 games a year or so and usually a couple playoff games if they go a couple rounds or so. but when i do go i wear a teal and white plaid western shirt or a sharks grey shirt with logo. i just think wearing sports jerseys as clothes as well as baseball caps is for young people. grown ups should dress well. im old school. in the old days boys wore caps (baseball, propeller) and men wore hats (fedoras, driving) boys wore jerseys men wore button down shirts. i like classic classy things. the original six have nice lines and looks in thier uniforms. orange and teal and all the extra trim is just tacky and busy. the wings and leafs have two colors simple lines. they also have colored pants with stripes. teams nowadays usually just have black ones. its intimidating to see the black and yellow of boston or the red and white of detroit. the orange and team isnt. shraks are classy so are the fans. it would just be nicer if they looked like it.

Rose

I can’t wait until we win this series! I just wish I could find Mark Kiszla after we win to say…

How bout ‘dem clown fish now, eh?

GO SHARKS!!!!!!

Snow Shovel

#93 WI JP – I just hope that after tonight we can go back to discussing the color ‘orange’. You’re right – it’s a good ‘problem’ to have!

ice

“i just think wearing sports jerseys as clothes as well as baseball caps is for young people. grown ups should dress well.”
—-
personally i think wearing a jersey to your favorite team’s game is a perfect way to support the team no matter how old you are. grown ups should dress well at work and at church. grown ups should let loose in the shark tank, spend too much money on beer and wear that favorite marleau jersey. this is a sport where people punch eachother, and where penalty minutes are determined by whether someone is bleeding or not. i think “dressing well” is overrated for hockey games.

signed-
28 year old kid

puckace

Well said ice. To each their own as far as dress goes, but I’m going to stick with my original Sharks teal jersey myself when I go to the games. No orange for me.

Here’s to Avs in golf carts after tonight!

GSGDI!

SanDiegoSharksFan

@snowshovel#108 & duxsux#109 – “…our next series would be against which of the other series that are battling now??” & “…first one who wins their series, that’s who we would face in round 2.”

i’m NOT trying to talk smack, but i think maybe you’re still a little off… or at least your explanation wasn’t completely clear to me (and possibly others). it doesn’t matter which one of those teams wins their series FIRST. it is a matter which one is the LOWEST SEED left after all the first round series’ are completed.

as you said they re-seed after every round, but the re-seeding is no longer based on regular season finish – it’s based on the seeding from the first round. each team keeps it’s originally seeded number throughout the playoffs. after each round ends, the lowest seed remaining plays the highest seed remaining in the next round, and so on.

for example – if detroit wins their series FIRST, and then la beats van a day or two later, sharks would play la (the LOWER SEED) not wings (the first to win).

likewise – if phoenix and vancouver both advance to the second round, pho does NOT get re-seeded above van because they had more points in the regular season… pho keeps it’s #4 seed and van stays at #3.

sorry, snowshovel, if that’s not quite as “simple” as you’d hoped; but i am pretty sure that’s how they do it. am open to correction though if their are any true experts out there.

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